Thursday, March 31, 2016

Still Stuck with Paper I'm not to Crazy About

I find myself obsessing over that Floral Shoppe paper from Hobby Lobby. I'm going to use every last sheet of it, if it's the last thing I do.

Here are a few ideas:

If your “ugly” decorative paper is too dark, you
can stamp on this paper using a bold stamp with light pigment ink or a white
ink pad. These inks will sit on top of
your paper. If you attempt to use dye
ink, the image will disappear on the paper because it will absorb into the
paper.
If your “ugly” decorative paper is too light, stamp a darker bolder image on
it.

Either of these methods will change
the character of the paper.

Take a foam brush that has been dipped in
watered-down acrylic paint, and ring out as much of the liquid as
possible. Now rub the brush in one
direction across the decorative paper.
Keep doing this until you obtain the desired degree of “white
washed”. I really like this technique
for very bright paper. It tones down the
brightness.

Instead of using a stamp, use a
sponge. This will give you a faded look if
you use white or light ink or a distressed look if you use dark ink.

Actually I used a few sheets as wrapping paper to wrap a few presents for a cardmaking event and the gifts looked retro cute.